The present situation of systematic review training courses in China

Article type
Authors
Song X1, Duan M1, Wang Q1, Chen Y1
1Lanzhou University
Abstract
Background: With the wide spread of evidence-based medicine, the need for a systematic review (SR) training courses is urgent. Several organisations are providing it for those who need relevant knowledge. Therefore, we conducted a study on the present situation of od SR training courses in China.

Objectives: To explore the present situation of SR training courses in China.

Methods:We reviewed the official sites of evidence-based medicine centres and databases like CNKI and Wanfang data to extract information about SR training courses in China, and we used Google to retrieve more information. We chose the courses held in 2016 as our sample. Finally we pooled the extracted data and analysed them, and compared that with results of our former project with same topic in 2015.

Results: There were 19 courses held in 2016, mostly on June and August, and held in 7 cities, especially in Beijing (the Capital of China). The course duration ranged from 1 day to 4 days and training fees range was 0 to 3500 CNY (520 USD). Organisations which held the courses were mostly academic institutions and biomedical companies, 7 were purely held by academic institutions, 9 were held by biomedical companies, and 2 courses were held by institutions and companies jointly. The contents of the courses covered basic knowledge, conception and development of SR, etc. Six courses included GRADE training. What’s more, compared with our former project, the courses held only by academic institutions dropped from 42% in 2015 to 36% in 2016.

Conclusions: In addition to the SR training courses in China, there are still many aspects to explore, such as the effect of the training course and the factors related to it. Conflict of interest in training course is a good aspect to consider.